I agree completely. The only thing that worries me is depth. We went from having the best backup PG in the league to possibly the worst, and until JV regains his form, we have almost zero depth at the 4 and 5. If we get into foul trouble like yesterday and have to rely on Lucas, Gray and Anderson, we're in trouble.

unless they pick up another PF who's a 3 pt threat..... i think you have to start bargs with demar, rudy, and lowry..

they shot an abysmal 20% or something like that last night from 3 pt range... that's effing UNACCEPTABLE when you have 3 players who thrive on creating their own shots and dribble penetration...

if you have three guys who're going to take it in the paint and attack the basket... you NEED somebody camped out on the 3 pt line...

you need somebody to kick it out to when the lane gets crowded..

you need somebody to draw the defending bigs out of the paint..

or else you're just throwing your mosquitos at the windshield.

and if we're intent on starting lowry, demar, and gay together... the outside threat has to come from our bigs...

or else the blueprint for defending the raps is simple, crowd the paint, because they aren't going to do a damn thing from the outside

miami didnt clog the paint.. they actually pressured the backcourt into suffication...they consistantly left our bigs in the paint to disrupt the passing lanes & take away the driving lanes, what we really need is a post pressence..miami consistantly doubled off our bigs & it killed us..

Considering how strong Miami came out from the gate. I think the team performed as well as would be expected from a roster that still needs to bond. A couple of breaks our way, and it could of been our game, nothing to be ashamed about.

Considering how strong Miami came out from the gate, it was surprising we only lost by 3. I think the team performed as well as would be expected from a roster that still needs to bond. A couple of breaks our way, and it could of been our game, nothing to be ashamed about.

Well said. The Heat had every reason to bury us yesterday. Just went 0-2 to the Pacers. Needed overtime to beat us last time. Throw in that they're playing in Bosh's old house. We matched them offense for offense, defense for defense for 44 minutes. You can say they turned it on or just that their shots starting falling and ours didn't. But on pure talent, it should never have been that close. It should be an interesting game against Boston.

the game was lost right out of halftime... the score did stay close till halfway through the 4th so i give u that

Yea Miami was in control for the better part of the second half. The Raptors managed to somewhat keep up with them, but it was pretty clear that unless there was a massive shift in momentum (unlikely), or our scrubs started playing like All Stars, there wasn't much of a chance that Miami was letting the Raptors regain the lead.

the game was lost the moment they called two terrible fouls. one on amir for the chalmers flop on the rebound and then the non existant one on lowry. both had to sit with 4 which completely took us out of the game

Yea Miami was in control for the better part of the second half. The Raptors managed to somewhat keep up with them, but it was pretty clear that unless there was a massive shift in momentum (unlikely), or our scrubs started playing like All Stars, there wasn't much of a chance that Miami was letting the Raptors regain the lead.

For all the talk about our subs, I thought they did a commendable job keeping us in the game. It was a very good effort by Miami.

You could tell by Bosh's and Jame's body language that this game was more than a regular season game to them. It was obvious Bosh wanted to remind his former team about his position in the hall of fame. When Bosh put it out of reach, James added a few extra scoops, and we were done.

I too got the feeling that Miami was playing with PO intensity, for personal reasons. We played them very well for most of the game, statistically you have to expect a lapse or two, and ours came with Gay sitting on the bench getting a badly needed breather.

The first half was very impressive, our defensive effort against Miami, showed this teams potential, we can turn it on against the very best. Sustaining it against Miami for 48 minutes is asking too much, their horses are going to show their talent eventually, but we did more than okay, it was obvious that they had to play hard to beat us, and they did just that. (there were few jokes on their sidelines, did not see smiles till the very end, we were tough on them for most of the game)

miami didnt clog the paint.. they actually pressured the backcourt into suffication...they consistantly left our bigs in the paint to disrupt the passing lanes & take away the driving lanes, what we really need is a post pressence..miami consistantly doubled off our bigs & it killed us..

ya, that's the reason that i didnt bring up the awful passing... the reality is, it would have taken an upper echelon pure PG to break them there... which we don't have..

i'm not stuck on this "we need bargs' shooting" idea... up until yesterday, i was firmly grounded in "get him the hell out of here"...

but we DO need shooters... i'll accept "trade bargs, and put Ross in as the starting 2" as an alternative... at least he's a marginally better shooter

For all the talk about our subs, I thought they did a commendable job keeping us in the game. It was a very good effort by Miami.

You could tell by Bosh's and Jame's body language that this game was more than a regular season game to them. It was obvious Bosh wanted to remind his former team about his position in the hall of fame. When Bosh put it out of reach, James added a few extra scoops, and we were done.

I too got the feeling that Miami was playing with PO intensity, for personal reasons. We played them very well for most of the game, statistically you have to expect a lapse or two, and ours came Gay sitting on the bench getting a badly needed breather.

The first half was very impressive, our defensive effort against Miami, showed this teams potential, we can turn it on against the very best. Sustaining it against Miami for 48 minutes is asking too much, their horses are going to show their talent eventually, but we did more than okay, it was obvious that they had to play hard to beat us, and they did just that. (there were few jokes on their sidelines, did not see smiles till the very end, we were tough on them for most of the game)

must be the superbowl hangover again LOL our bench scored 11pts combined & were pretty much non existant in this game..

I remember hearing Jack wondering when Lowry and Amir were going to come back in. I kept thinking, hold on dude, the 2nd unit is grinding with them good, and they were, it wasn't about the scoring, they were playing good D. Staying within 2-5 points in the dying minutes of the 3rd.

However once Gay was off the floor, Lowry and the gang could not find any offense.

I also remember being in Awe by Wade's and Jame's game, thinking wow, these guys are too good, I was actually surprised we kept up with them. They looked PO ready last night. There was little you could improve in how the big 3 played last night. They were just money.

Lowry and Johnson went stone cold as a result of sitting on the bench for the extended duration of the 3rd and 4th.

TSN commentary mentioned that Casey was attempting to keep a tight rotation to keep the most talented players on the floor.
I think this was a mistake. When you tie a tight noose around the bench players on this team, they seem to choke.

I'm not saying that everyone should go 2-of-18 from the 3-point line like AA, but we have hit-or-miss players on our entire bench that need to hit, and miss. If they come off the bench and only miss, and you bench them before they hit? There goes the offense.

I state the obvious but it was the lack-of-talent that the Raptors have in their back court that lost the game.

They both had 4 fouls, and Wade and James were aware of that and going at them hard all game. (maybe its why we looked so good early and why the steam ran out - just could not afford to play the same tight D)

It's a balancing act any way you look at it, this roster was pushed to its limits last night.

1. lack of front court and PG depth were exposed - team played 4-on-5 with Gray on the floor and Lucas is a 3rd stringer

2. Landry Fields' defense, rebounding and offensive movement was sorely missed - he would have been so much more effective than Anderson (how/why did Anderson play 33 minutes, 3rd only to DeRozan & Gay???)

3. 'live or die by the jumpshot' is recipe for disaster, especially from the 2nd unit - Anderson/Lucas/Ross were a combined 3-17 (1-8 3pt) & entire team shot 37.3% / 22.2%

4. rookies are rookies - Valanciunas & Ross could be special, but that game was a reminder that the NBA learning curve is a steep and inconsistent process

Conclusions:

1. This team needs a significantly upgraded 2nd big; Valanciunas (rookie), Gray (backup/matchup C) and Acy (rookie/3rd string) will not cut it next to Johnson, especially given his tendancy to foul. For the short-term, even Bargnani would have been a huge improvement over Gray - at least the Heat would have respected/defended him!

2. This team needs a veteran, pass-first backup PG. Lucas is an insanely streaky shooter, who should not be counted on to contribute 12-16 MPG.

3. I fear BC already missed the 'trade at peak value' window for Anderson, but he needs to be traded. A wing rotation of Gay, DeRozan, Fields and Ross has the potential to be very good and very balanced.